Academicians Should Boost Study On Malaysia-Indonesia Ties

By Azeman Ariffin JAKARTA, Aug 16 (Bernama) -- Academicians should conduct more studies on Malaysia-Indonesia ties to boost understanding of all on the uniqueness and togetherness between the two countries. Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia, Zahrain Mohamed Hashim said through such academic efforts, the intellectuals could unearth and explore historical studies and views on the future of ties between Malaysia and Indonesia. “Malaysia-Indonesia diplomatic ties is now 60 years old and indeed many things can be studied because Indonesia is an important country and a very special neighbour for Malaysia,” he said in his speech during a dinner in conjunction with the International Conference on Malaysia-Indonesia Ties, here, Monday night. The conference which was jointly organised by the Faculty of Humanities of Universiti Indonesia and Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Universiti Malaya was participated by over 100 academicians and students from the two universities. Also present was former Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr N.Hassan Wirajuda and Universiti Indonesia rector Prof Dr Muhammad Anis M.Met. Zahrain said since appointed as ambassador, he had been focusing on five main pillars to strengthen bilateral relations and understanding between the two countries, and academicians could study it. He said the first pillar was ensuring close ties between the leaders of both countries to enable the existence of political will and this method was proven effective in overcoming several problems. The second pillar is boosting relations between the two governments via agencies and departments to ease bureaucracy and existing government policies. The third pillar is boosting ties between the security authorities of both countries to safeguard their common interests and security, while the fourth pillar is boosting ties between the entrepreneurs of both countries. “Indonesian is an important investment nation for Malaysia because it is a big country and has a very large market and at the same time, we also offer investment opportunities to Indonesia,” Zahrain said. The fifth pillar is boosting ties between the people of both countries so that they would better understand the socio-cultural background of their respective countries. “Currently, there is no more hate demonstrations against Malaysia because the people of Indonesia have begun to understand the Malaysian socio-culture, which is indeed from the same ethnic group. In fact, many among the people of both countries have family ties,” he said. -- BERNAMA